The present invention relates to a self-emission unit and a method of manufacturing the same.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2005-276216, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
There has been known a self-emission display panel formed by using self-emission elements such as organic EL (electroluminescent) elements. There has also been known a display panel such as a liquid crystal display panel formed by using liquid crystal display elements. Actually, a conventional display panel is usually received into a frame (holder) formed in an additional step called frame formation step. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-151376 has disclosed a portable terminal device whose display elements are received into a holder.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional self-emission unit 100J includes a self-emission module 10 and a protection frame 30J. The self-emission module 10 comprises a plurality of self-emission elements each having a basic structure including a luminescent functional layer containing a self-emission film, interposed between an upper electrode and a lower electrode formed on a transparent board (substrate) 21. The substrate 21 has lead-out wires 22 which are connected with the lower electrodes and the upper electrodes of the self-emission elements, also electrically connected with a driving circuit (driver) 23. The driving circuit 23 is electrically connected with a flexible wiring board (wiring substrate) 24. Further, a sealing member 25 is provided to air-tightly seal up the self-emission elements formed on the substrate 21, while a protection layer 26 is formed on the lead-out wires 22 and the driving circuit 23. In addition, an identifying information (type number) 27 is printed near the center of the sealing member 25.
On the other hand, the frame 30J is formed in a frame formation step, so that an opening 31 is formed on one side of the frame and claw-like fastening portions 32 are formed near the opening 31 for fixing the frame to the substrate 21, while fastening sections 33 are formed near the back side of the frame for fixing the frame 30J to a frame structure serving as an attachment base. Further, a wiring board receiving recess 34 is formed on one side of the frame 30J and an opening 35 is formed near the center of the frame 31.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are explanatory views showing an assembled self-emission unit 100J. In detail, FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing the back side of the self-emission unit 100J, FIG. 2B is another perspective view showing the front side of the self-emission unit 100J.
The substrate 21 and the frame 30J are assembled together. In detail, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2A and 2B, an adhesive material 28 such as a double-sided adhesive tape is attached to the sealing member 25 so as to fit and thus fix the self-emission module 10 in the opening 31 of the frame 30J. At this time, the fastening portions 32 are engaged with the edge portions of the substrate 21 so as to fix together the substrate 21 and the frame 30J. Further, a reflection preventing polarizing plate 29 is disposed on the substrate 21. In such an assembled self-emission unit, an identifying information (type number) printed near the central portion of the sealing member 25 is visible from an opening 35 of the frame 30J. Afterwards, the assembled self-emission unit 100J is engaged into a frame structure such as cellular phone and fixed in position by virtue of the fastening sections 33.
As described above, the foregoing self-emission unit 100J requires an assembling process for assembling together the self-emission module 10 and the frame (holder made of resin) 30 formed in advance at a step different from a step for making the self-emission module 10, thus requiring an increased manufacturing time. Moreover, the assembling process requires a troublesome step for disposing an adhesive material 28 such as a double-sided adhesive tape between the self-emission module 10 and the frame 30J, forming another cause for an increased manufacturing time. Besides, during the assembling process, the edge portions of the transparent substrate 21 are likely to wound an assembling machine or a human operator performing the assembling operation.
In addition, the conventional self-emission unit 100J requires another step for adjusting an attachment position when assembling together the frame 30 and the self-emission module 10, and a further step for adjusting another attachment position when attaching the self-emission unit 100J to an attachment base. As a result, there would be only a low positional accuracy for the position of the self-emission module 10J with respect to an attachment base.